a bleeding purple utah jazz blog

Odds and Ends from All-Star Break

Randy Rigby on the wins against the Heat and Lakers
Number one, on Saturday night, I think we happened to play the world champions, and beat the world champion Miami Heat. So that to me says we’re the world champions for a day or two. In my mind, at least.

And then to come up behind that, and beat, and then go down, and travel down and play the Lakers and play, you know, get behind them and then come back, I think it shows really, to me, that this team and the job that coach [Tyrone] Corbin and his coaching staff and the job that is happening and these guys are starting to understand not only just about playing NBA basketball, what it means to play NBA basketball, but to compete and start winning both at home and away.

Randy Rigby defining “NBA basketball”
This is a game for men. This is a men’s game. And I’ll tell you, it’s seeing these younger young men, grow up and becoming more and more men.

Frank Layden on how he would react to management’s plan if he were Tyrone Corbin
Well, I’d want a raise. I’d want a new contract. Yeah, because he’s gonna be the guy that, you know, do they guarantee that when they lose, they’re not gonna fire him? You know, I mean, every coach wants good players, and when you get good players, you’ll win. Nobody can win with bad players.

I mean, he’s done as well as you can do, with the team that he has. But I don’t see, other than going to the draft, or making some tremendous purchase of a free agent, how this team is going to necessarily get a lot better, than maybe the steps they already were taking. You know, I was a little surprised.

But, you know, all the “Play the young guys! Play the young guys!” Well yeah, you’re gonna play the young guys and then hope that you draft the guy that’s, you know, a LeBron James. And even that might not work if you look at Cleveland, for instance, when they drafted LeBron James, and you know, there’s no guarantee anymore that if you draft a good player, that he’s gonna stay with you. You know, it’s a crapshoot at best.

And I don’t know. I, you know, from the standpoint of a fan, I would say, “Well, we’re not going to have a very good team. They told us we’re not gonna have a very good team. But in two or three years, with the draft picks and the money we’re saving and stuff like that, we’re gonna have a very good team. Then, good. Lower the prices then. If you’re not giving me a good product, then, you know, don’t charge me as much to get in to watch it.”

Meanwhile in Cancun, via @yelizokur13:

Marvin Williams on what he’s learned about Gordon Hayward as a leader this year
You know, Gordon’s more quiet than I thought he was. I mean, I thought he was quiet last year, but he actually really is a quiet dude. You know, he laughs at jokes, but he just doesn’t really say much.

You know, the coaches kinda get on him sometimes ’cause he doesn’t talk during the drills sometimes. So he’s a little more quiet than I actually really thought he was.

Paul Millsap on whether he’s ever laid in Al Jefferson’s 40-foot bed
Actually, I don’t want anybody to get the wrong idea, but I have…

You know, I wanted to see what that felt like, so you know, I laid down. You know, it’s big enough, you know, to where we have our space. So it wasn’t that serious. (1280, LOJ, Grantland)